State-Owned Enterprises and Management Challenges in Poor Countries

This dissertation analyzes the challenges of managing state-owned enterprises in poor countries, particularly in contexts marked by authoritarian regimes or dictatorships. It highlights their central role in strategic sectors such as energy, transportation, water, and telecommunications, while emphasizing the obstacles that limit their performance: political interference, centralized decision-making, cronyism, corruption, and weak oversight mechanisms. In these systems, political objectives often take precedence over economic efficiency and the quality of public services.The study shows that improving performance requires transparent governance, greater managerial autonomy, accountability of executives, strengthened independent oversight, and the adoption of modern management practices. It concludes that state-owned enterprises can become drivers of development if they are protected from excessive political influence and guided by the public interest.